Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Couples Therapy”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Critical interaction therapy: couples therapy in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

There is a need for family therapy interventions that are specific to the conditions found in families of traumatized people such as combat veterans. In these families, the historically "real" event of the trauma often continues to exert influence on the family system despite collusive arrangements that serve to keep it hidden. In families of combat veterans, a situation develops whereby the veteran becomes triangulated with a dead buddy without the spouse's knowledge. The discrepancy between past and present emerges in what we call the critical interaction between the spouses. This article outlines a method of couples therapy that attempts to demystify this critical interaction, and begins to integrate the discrepant narratives of each spouse. The establishment of a nascent mutuality of perspective within the couple releases energies that can be directed toward support rather than symptom-formation in the family system.

Combat Disorders↗
PubMed2006

Current status and future directions in couple therapy.

Couple therapy research affirms that various approaches to couple treatment produce statistically and clinically significant improvement for a substantial proportion of couples in reducing overall relationship distress. Recent studies have extended these findings in indicating the effectiveness of couple-based interventions for a broad range of coexisting emotional, behavioral, or physical health problems in one or both partners. In contrast to these encouraging results, research also indicates that a sizeable percentage of couples fail to achieve significant gains from couple therapy or show significant deterioration afterward. Research on processes of change and predictors of treatment outcome in couple therapy provides preliminary evidence regarding factors potentially contributing to variable treatment response. The chapter concludes with 12 recommendations regarding future directions in couple therapy research and clinical training.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1998

Acceptance versus change interventions in behavioral couple therapy: impact on couples' in-session communication.

Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) attempts to improve Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy (TBCT) by incorporating an emphasis on promoting acceptance into TBCT's emphasis on behavioral change. This study examined changes in couples' communication over the course of IBCT and TBCT. Early, middle, and late sessions were coded to measure couples' communication of acceptance. Results showed that IBCT couples expressed more nonblaming descriptions of problems and more soft emotions than TBCT couples during late stages of therapy. IBCT couples significantly increased their nonblaming description of problems and significantly decreased their expressions of hard emotions and their problematic communication over time. Results support the hypothesis that structural differences between the therapies affect initial levels of emotional expression in session. Increases in nonblaming descriptions of problems were significantly correlated with increases in marital satisfaction.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Couple therapy with parents whose youngest daughter had a psychotic episode: impairment of a child and marital conflict.

An 18-year-old girl developed a withdrawn state with suicidal ideas. The therapist gave 8 sessions of conjoint family therapy, with her parents and two sisters. In the course of conjoint therapy, she became psychotic and some structural features of the disturbed family system seemed to get more rigid. The therapist therefore, changed the therapeutic modality from conjoint therapy to couple therapy with her parents. During the sessions of couple therapy, the therapist tried to help her parents gain an understanding of his or her respective family of origin. The girl, as a result, got through the psychotic state and her condition stabilized. The author discussed the following points: 1) The girl's symptoms were understood to be the result of chronic tension between her parents, and disappeared when her parents became involved with their couple therapy. 2) Each parent transmitted many unresolved issues in the context of his or her original family to their nuclear family. 3) In couple therapy, when the marital conflict is so great, the couple tend to involve the therapist in triangulation. Therefore, it is very important for the therapist to keep himself in a position of distriangulation with the couple.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Counseling and couple therapy for infertile couples.

The article describes a two-tier, interdisciplinary design for the psychological counseling and therapy of childless couples. It is solution- and resource-oriented and avoids psychopathological ascriptions. Couples are supported in coming to terms with the crisis of a physical disorder and its emotional consequences; they are also aided in developing prospects and options for a future without a biological child. The procedure is explained in detail and provides a model suitable for application at reproduction medicine centers and gynecological and andrological practices. Sample interventions illustrate the therapeutic attitude advocated.

Counseling↗
PubMed1990

Cognitive behavioural couples therapy with gay men referred for counselling in an AIDS setting: a pilot study.

Counselling and psychological therapy is now an established part of health care in most AIDS settings, yet intervention has thus far tended to focus on the individual. It is argued that there is a need for greater development of therapy for couples in the AIDS field, based on the results of a pilot study of cognitive-behavioural couples therapy with 10 couples referred to a clinical psychologist working in an AIDS setting. Results suggest that satisfaction with the relationship significantly improved over the course of therapy, and the problem for which the clients were initially referred were resolved. One individual case report of a couple is presented, in order to illustrate the method of therapy used. The limitations in this pilot study, in addition to general problems in carrying out research in this area, which make generalisations from the data difficult, are discussed. It is concluded that there is preliminary evidence to illustrate the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural couples therapy for gay couples in an AIDS setting, and that counselling interventions should not solely focus on the individual.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2004

Traditional versus integrative behavioral couple therapy for significantly and chronically distressed married couples.

A randomized clinical trial compared the effects of traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT) and integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) on 134 seriously and chronically distressed married couples, stratified into moderately and severely distressed groups. Couples in IBCT made steady improvements in satisfaction throughout the course of treatment, whereas TBCT couples improved more quickly than IBCT couples early in treatment but then, in contrast to the IBCT group, plateaued later in treatment. Both treatments produced similar levels of clinically significant improvement by the end of treatment (71% of IBCT couples and 59% of TBCT couples were reliably improved or recovered on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale; G. B. Spanier, 1976). Measures of communication also showed improvement for both groups. Measures of individual functioning improved as marital satisfaction improved.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The feminist/emotionally focused therapy practice model: an integrated approach for couple therapy.

Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is a well-developed, empirically tested practice model for couple therapy that integrates systems, experiential, and attachment theories. Feminist family therapy theory has provided a critique of biased assumptions about gender at play in traditional family therapy practice and the historical absence of discussions of power in family therapy theory. This article presents an integrated feminist/EFT practice model for use in couple therapy, using a case from practice to illustrate key concepts. Broadly, the integrated model addresses gender roles and individual emotional experience using a systemic framework for understanding couple interaction. The model provides practitioners with a sophisticated, comprehensive, and relevant practice approach for working with the issues and challenges emerging for contemporary heterosexual couples.

Conflict, Psychological↗
PubMed1980

Multi-level couple therapy: applying a metacommunicational framework of couple interactions.

Excerpts from a couple therapy case are cited to illustrate the practical significance of a multi-level framework in understanding couple interactions. The clinical implications of the metacommunicational framework, as a metaphor for examining and understanding relational processes, are discussed. Also, the pragmatics of following "process" at a variety of levels when working with punctuational differences, developing therapy strategies and goals, and measuring the progress of couple therapy are discussed.

Accidents↗
PubMed1992

When is couples therapy necessary and sufficient?

Couples therapy is not a unified form of treatment but draws on a heterogeneous range of influencing processes. When distressed couples are relatively stable and interested in effecting a harmonious modus vivendi, didactic training will usually achieve salubrious outcomes. When individual agendas, hidden or otherwise, undermine the relationship, individual therapy is often essential before the couple can benefit from conjoint therapy. Those who insist on working only within dyadic, triadic, or family contexts may fail to achieve desirable goals.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed2000

Integrative behavioral couple therapy: an acceptance-based, promising new treatment for couple discord.

Although traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT) has garnered the most empirical support of any marital treatment, concerns have been raised about both its durability and clinical significance. Integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) was designed to address some of these limitations by combining strategies for fostering emotional acceptance with the change-oriented strategies of TBCT. Results of a preliminary clinical trial, in which 21 couples were randomly assigned to TBCT or IBCT, indicated that therapists could keep the 2 treatments distinct, that both husbands and wives receiving IBCT evidenced greater increases in marital satisfaction than couples receiving TBCT, and that IBCT resulted in a greater percentage of couples who either improved or recovered on the basis of clinical significance data. Although preliminary, these findings suggest that IBCT is a promising new treatment for couple discord.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

The ongoing evolution of behavioral couples therapy: retrospect and prospect.

Behavioral couples therapy (BCT) was first described thirty years ago, and the conceptual basis of the approach has been evolving ever since. Whilst BCT in its current form is a well established treatment for relationship problems, there are significant limitations to its efficacy, and there are a number of new developments intended to enhance the efficacy of the approach. Currently BCT primarily is a skills training therapy, targeting change in couple's interactions to promote greater relationship satisfaction. Current developments focus on broadening this traditional emphasis on changing couple interactions to greater attention to reducing negative emotional responses to partner behaviors (increasing acceptance), and increasing self-directed personal change efforts. Future developments of BCT are likely to pay greater attention to different types of couple interaction which are associated with sustained relationship satisfaction, the individual vulnerabilities partners bring to relationships, and the environmental stresses impinging upon the couple.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

The "coming of age" of couple therapy: a decade review.

This article overviews significant developments in couple therapy over the last decade. Key trends include: (1) couple therapy becoming firmly established as the accepted treatment of choice for couple problems, (2) the blossoming of the science of relationships, (3) strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of couple therapy both for relationship problems and DSM disorders, (4) greater understanding of the ramifications of gender, (5) new respect for the diversity of family forms, (6) increased accent on the role of emotion, (7) the influence of postmodernism, (8) greater recognition of couple violence, and (9) the move toward integration across models of treatment.

Couples Therapy↗
PubMed1988

Identifying and treating the sexual repercussions of incest: a couples therapy approach.

Given the significant number of adults who were sexually victimized as children and the serious negative effects that sexual abuse can have on sexual functioning, clinicians need to be prepared to recognize and treat the intimacy concerns of adult incest survivors. Broadening the definition of incest to include nontouch sexual abuse, this paper describes types of sexual problems commonly expressed by survivors, such as sexual dysfunction, fear of sex, conditioned negative reactions to sex, flashbacks to the abuse, and mind-body dissociation. The intimate partner of the survivor is viewed as a secondary victim of the incest, who often displays a unique set of sexual and emotional concerns as well. A four-stage couples therapy approach is presented which includes identifying the problem, working together on incest resolution, changing old sexual intimacy patterns, and creating positive sexual experiences. This model is a dynamic combination of incest resolution therapy, sex therapy, and couples therapy. Therapeutic dilemmas and considerations are discussed and recommendations given for increasing the effectiveness of therapy. An argument is made as to why a couples therapy approach is the preferred method of treatment.

Female↗
PubMed2003

The revolution in couple therapy: a practitioner-scientist perspective.

This article offers an overview of the expanding field of couple therapy, focusing on what the author considers to be new and even revolutionary in this field. In terms of outcome research, this article suggests that differential treatment effects are discernable. Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) appears to demonstrate the best outcomes at present. The most significant differences between research studies and everyday clinical practice may be the levels of therapist supervision rather than the essential nature of clients. The manualization of treatment is also viewed positively in this review. Areas of growth are the mapping of the territory of distress, understanding the process of change, couple therapy as an effective intervention for "individual" disorders, and the integration into couple therapy of clinical research, such as the research on gender and responses in therapy, and research on adult attachment. Practitioner-scientists can contribute to this evolving field by systematic observation and by reminding researchers of the need for clinical relevance. Couple therapy is now integrating description, prediction and explanation. As a result, theory, practice and systematic investigation are beginning to create a coherent whole.

Female↗